Brian Windhorsts thoughts after Game 4 and heading into Game 5:
BOSTON, Mass. -- Thoughts following the Cavs' 97-87 Game 4 loss to the Boston Celtics:
• Shaquille O'Neal was upset after the game. He wanted to come back into the game in the fourth quarter after the Cavs fell behind when he got into foul trouble. During a timeout, Shaq went to the coaches. Mike Brown didn't put him back in. Shaq didn't talk to reporters afterward, likely because he was angry and probably didn't want to say something that might have been damaging.
That's too bad.
Rajon Rondo is playing very well and putting up numbers usually reserved for Hall-of-Famers.
Tough luck.
LeBron said it might be time for the Cavs to "explore" having him guard Rondo since Rondo's vanquished Mo Williams and a second-look at Anthony Parker didn't work as well as the first.
That's nice of him.
None of the above matters that much as to whether the Cavs will win the series with the Celtics. Oh, it will be written and talked about a great deal over the next couple of days. I'll probably address some of those issues more in depth. There's merit and analysis in there to be done.
But all of it is secondary to the bigger issue the Cavs have created for themselves with an up-and-down four-game set thus far. It is still unclear whether the Cavs have within them the desire to win 10 more games. Sometimes it looks like a "yes" but quite often it looks like a "no."
Most people, including yours truly, picked the Cavs to win this series in six games. That meant they would lose at least two. So for them to be at 2-2 is understandable. In reality, they did what they had to do this weekend and came home with the homecourt advantage back. Heck, Shaq and Parker both had pretty good games and getting the big man going has the potentially to pay off farther down the road.
But beyond the tension over playing time, how to matchup with Rondo and the positives is the fact that the Cavs aren't playing like a team that intends to advance. Maybe not even a team that wants to advance.
The Celtics did not play a great game on Sunday. They had the best player but collectively the Cavs executed nearly as well. In Game 2, the Celtics played very well as a team. It was understandable the Cavs lost that one. Not this time.
Not when Kevin Garnett is beating people back off made baskets. Not when Rondo is getting rebounds after they bounce on the floor. Not when Anderson Varejao isn't leaving his feet as he's trying to get rebounds. Not when LeBron gets the corner turned and has a layup but instead passes the ball to the corner. Not when Rondo inbounds from the sideline with two seconds on the shot clock and then collects the rebound off the forced miss.
The Cavs aren't going to make every hustle play; no one expects them to. They are called "50/50" balls for a reason. But to make virtually no hustle plays in Game 4 of a brutal playoff series is telling. Especially when they were just rewarded with a great win by doing all of those things two days before.
No, that isn't how teams even win series; let alone championships. Forget anything else the Cavs have to deal with in the locker room. They have to deal with that first. Not just in Game 5 but in Game 6, too. And all that may come after it.
• Believe it or not, Parker actually did a fair job handling Rondo. In the halfcourt, the Cavs weren't bothered by Rondo to a dangerous degree. He was 9-of-21, which is better than his career average but actually below what he was shooting in the previous three games. In fact, the Cavs' halfcourt defense was pretty good. Especially in the second half, when they held the Celtics to 38 percent shooting.
That number is correct. Boston actually only scored 43 points in the second half. That is winning basketball. Come to think of it, giving up 97 points and 45 percent shooting overall on the road probably is good enough to win in many playoff games. Even with Rondo's 29/18/13, it is good enough to win.
But it is not good enough to give up 23 fast-break points and 16 points off turnovers with zero second-chance points.
The Cavs and Celtics actually had the same amount of assists: 19. Focusing on the defense and who guards Rondo isn't as important as it may seem.
• Often in the postseason you will see the role players have strong games at home. This was seen in the Bulls' series with Jamario Moon. Tony Allen had one of those games for the Celtics today. Allen made six of seven shots and scored 15 points and made everyone forget that not only did Paul Pierce have another bad game when he wasn't even guarding LeBron as much, but Pierce looked afraid to shoot for most of the second half. Allen and Glen Davis were a combined 8-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds. The Cavs' bench didn't score in the first half and finished 3-of-12 with six total rebounds.
But yeah, he's a homer lol..
